A DUP politician in Co Tyrone says a sectarian campaign against him is beginning to take its toll after his property was attacked for the 40th time.

Councillor Sammy Brush said he believed a vehicle was used to move his car from outside his home on Saturday night and push it down the street into another vehicle.

This is the second attack on his car in the space of eight days.

Last week the bonnet of his vehicle was smashed in an overnight attack, causing £700 worth of damage. The financial cost of the latest damage to the vehicle has yet to be calculated.

Mr Brush said he was “tired and fed up” of the “ongoing sectarian campaign” against him, but insisted he “will never give in” to “the scum trying to annoy me”.

The DUP man said his Ballygawley property had been targeted since 1998, but that in recent months the number of attacks had increased. The councillor, who was a part-time member of UDR, survived an IRA gun attack in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, in June 1981. At the time of the shooting he was off duty and carrying out his day job as a postman.

Mr Brush was making a delivery when he was approached by a masked gunman, who shot at him from about 12 feet. He was wearing a bullet-proof jacket which saved his life. He was also carrying a pistol, with which he returned fire and wounded the gunman.

He said: “These attacks are sectarian. It is because of who I am and what I am. I think that the nationalist and republican politicians in the area are not doing enough to bring any influence on these people who are doing this.

“I have stood for law and order and fought for the good of everybody. I am not going to give in to scum. It is frustrating that nobody has been brought to justice for these attacks, but hopefully some day someone will be caught.”

Over the years windows have been smashed at Mr Brush’s home and an outhouse destroyed by arsonists.

Last night, police appealed for information about a taxi containing two men who were spotted smashing into the councillor’s car at 2am. The pair were seen leaving an alleyway and getting into the car and driving off causing damage to the parked car.

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Lord Morrow, a DUP colleague of Sammy Brush, said that somebody would have witnessed the latest attack. “From what can be established, a buckrake type of implement has been used, as there is grass lying about and the car has sustained spear marks.This took a degree of pre-planning and there is no way it was not witnessed,” he said.